Yay! I received one of those letters on behalf of ABC TV, soliciting participation on an unreality show. I was beginning to feel so left out. =:) As sleazily done as you might expect - amongst other tricks, they're harvesting LJ usernames and sending to paid users' livejournal.com forwarding addresses. Of course, that won't work for free users, but what spammer cares about delivery success ratios?

I'd known HP made good money off their inkjets and supplies, but apparently, "In fiscal 2005, H-P made more than 80 percent of its $5.6 billion in operating profit from ink and toner supplies".

tursi might like the Video Game Music Quiz.. it's not so much Quizilla/OkCupid as IMDb; an open-ended challenge to identify as much of the music as possible.

"Each music track will have a point value based on the difficulty. Values range from 1 to 9. Difficulty is based on:

- How "popular" the game is- Where the music appears in the game- Region of the game

For example, if I post the bonus stage music from Sonic the Hedgehog, it would probably have a value of 3. Many people have played this game, it was released in all regions, but the bonus stage might not be as memorable as say, Green Hill Zone.

You get points for each correct answer, and there will be a few other statistics kept as well. But in the end, your points will determine your ranking."

Now this is a very shiny phone indeed. (Be prepared for the price, on the final page, though)

Here's the natter on Ars Technica's forum regarding the news of Google's CEO joining Apple's board of directors. Myself, I'm inclined to think it doesn't presage anything particularly big, so much as cooperation and an avoidance of stepping on tails.

Would you like to put forward your nominations for idiotic "security" measures? Now you can participate in the Stupid Security Awards:

"Unworkable security practices and illusory security measures do nothing to help issues of real public concern. They only hinder the public, intrude unnecessary into our private lives and often reduce us to the status of cattle.

The airline industry is the most prominent offender, but it is not alone. Consider the UK rail company that banned train-spotters on the grounds of security (e.g. see this article(external). Or the security desk of a US office building that complained because paramedics rushing to attend a heart-attack victim had failed to sign-in. Or the metro company that installed a $20,000 biological weapons/gas detector and placed it openly next to a power plug so terrorists could conveniently unplug the device.

Privacy International is calling for nominations to name and shame the worst offenders. The competition closes on October 31st 2006. The award categories are:

You are an artist, an aesthete, a sensitive, and someone who has never really let go of that childlike innocence. To you, all of life has a sense of wonder in it, and the story of Orpheus was written about someone just like you.

When the Argo passed the island of the Sirens, Orpheus played a song more beautiful than the Sirens to prevent the crew from becoming enticed. When his wife died, he ventured into the underworld to charm Hades but, in his naivete, he looked back becoming trapped there.

You can capture your unique world view and relate it to others with the skill of a master storyteller. Your sensitivity and creativity make you a treasure to the human race, but your thin-skinned nature and innocence can cause you a lot of disenchantment and pain. What's doubly unfortunate is that, if you try to lose those traits, you never will, and everyone will be able to tell that you're putting up an artificial shell to prevent yourself from being hurt.